Hospital Hopping!

Well today we went hospital hopping!  Emery came to the hotel we were staying at and ate breakfast with us.  The breakfasts at this hotel are totally amazing!  They have someone that makes fresh omlets and they are wonderful!  They also have french toast that is really good and just a whole lot of other things.  They have a juice that is a peach citrus that is amazing!  Here is our cook!

We then went and saw Michael this morning.  He is still sedated and still has all the IV's and breathing tubes still in.  The nurse he has today is horrible!  Sara said she was really mean and short with her.  She asked her if she would please update us if there was any changes and especially if they pull the breathing tube out and he wakes up.  While we were there Daryl took Brandon for the day.

Here is the clan on the way up in the elevator...we decided not to jump!

After a couple of hours we then went to a hospital in Scottsdale and saw Michael's nephew and our adopted brother Randall who is in the hospital because a lead came out of his pacemaker and he had to go into surgery to have it fixed on Monday.  His sweet wife Jamie and his cute little boy Braxton was there.  We also saw his Dad (Michael's brother) Curtis at the hospital.  Next we went to Mesa and visited Liza who is in the hospital for a bone marrow transplant.  She has a form of Leukemia and we are hoping this will really help her.  Shanna is her donor.  So Mom had planned on coming down here this weekend to be with her sisters anyway.  Shanna has been having to take shots to draw the good blood cells out of her bone marrow so they can take it out on Monday.  They will turn around and put it into Liza on Monday as well.  So far Shanna said the shots hasn't been as painful as she has heard they would be.  We decided to go eat at Golden Corral and Duskin joined us.

While we were there Sara called to check on Michael and they told her that he was awake and the breathing tube was out.  She was so angry that they didn't call her!  We hurried back to the hospital and I couldn't help but take this sweet picture of the two of them!

He is awake and he is looking pretty good.  They made him sit in the chair for 5 hours.  Although Michael wasn't very happy that Sara wasn't there to begin with, but the stupid nurse didn't tell her!  We stayed tonight in the hotel again.  

Michael's Heart Attack

My brother-in-law Michael who is younger than I am (39) had a heart attack on his way home from vacation cruising to Mexico.  Sara called me at 11:00 p.m. on Thursday and told me that Michael had just had a heart attack and she needed me to talk with her while she followed the ambulance up to the hospital.  They soon confirmed the heart attack and then they prepared to fly him to Phoenix.  Richard, Daniel, and Mike drove Sara to the valley and got there about 4 in the morning.  Mom went back and got Brandon from Heather's and drove up this morning.  Jessica, David and I also drove down this morning and met Jordan in the valley because he was down there for an EA music tour.  We picked up Jordan at Superstition Springs Mall and headed over to the Arizona Heart Hospital and this is what we find!  My two brothers are still at each other, as you can see from Richard's grimacing face....he just got hit in an unfortuante place!  Of course Daniel is grinning!

 I guess they really had a fun time, I guess as much time as you can have in a hospital.  They also had Daryl (Michael's brother) and Mike (Michael's nephew).  One funny story about this hospital is I guess they were coming down on the elevator and Daniel said "Jump" not thinking that all of them would jump but they all did and I guess the elevator just shook, hard and dust came down from the top and they truly felt like the elevator was going to break! 

Well by the time we got to the hospital Michael had been in surgery and had a triple bypass.  The Dr.'s said his heart had been really bruised and they left some kind of pump in to help his heart pump to give it a little bit of a break and can heal.  They want to keep it in at least until tomorrow.  We went in to visit him but he was sedated and would be until at least tomorrow as well.  He had so many tubes and IV's coming out of everywhere you could barely get in his room.  He just looked so sad!  

Well Richard, Mike and Daniel, and Jessica, Jordan and David all drove home tonight.  We then drove around forever trying to find a hotel that was close to the hospital and just happen to get one that was really close.  We tried to get one online but they were all so expensive!  I guess they have spring training down here this weekend so everything is super expensive!  So we went and got settled in.  Crazy this was the same hotel I had stayed in one time when I came down for a dental convention with Dr. West.  I remember it had amazing breakfasts!  Sara and I went back to the Hospital to see Michael and Grandma and Brandon stayed at the hotel.  Grandma took Brandon swimming, but Brandon started drowning and Grandma had to jump in the pool with all her clothes on.  So when we came back Brandon was still swimming and Mom was sitting there in soaking wet clothes!

Day Trip to the Gilbert Temple

Today we got to take this sweet little face on a day trip with us to the Gilbert Temple open house.  He was so much fun and he is just as precious as he can be!

This temple is just a beautiful and serene place.  Everything about it is just relaxing, inviting, and gorgeous.

It was such a neat experience to take the kids through and to answer a lot of questions that they had.  It was fun for the to be able to see the inside of the temple.  They were really excited especially Darius and he had lots of questions!

The family after the tour, Tyanne, Rob, Crick, David, Tyson and Darius.  What a wonderful day!

We even got to meet up with Antie Em and have lunch with her.  She was on her lunch break.  She works as a dental assistant for Dr. Beavers, Jordan's uncle.

We also met up with Great Grandma Aceves!  This was just a last minute, she happened to be in the valley, meeting.  She was in the valley with Liza  and Shanna who have been having some tests done for Liza's bone marrow transplant.  Aunt Shelly was also here for lunch.  I am just sad I didn't get a picture with everyone!

This is where we had lunch.  It was right around the corner from the temple.  It was called Joe's Farm Grill.  We just had hamburgers but honestly, I think these were the best hamburgers I have ever had!  It was a really neat place and their strawberry lemonade was amazing....if you like pulp, which I do!

A New Year's Resolution!

Well I have to say I have fallen victim to Facebook's evil influence LOL!  I have totally neglected my blog!  I am now going to try to at least update it once a month...if not more!  We had a great Christmas at my Mom's this year and one of the highlights was taking family pictures...which we have not really ever done!  We have had so much fun this Christmas spending time with each other playing games...and eating!  Wow...I can not even tell you how much we have eaten, other then it shows!

Our Christmas!

You know I was doing so good with this whole bloging thing till I found facebook...then I find myself looking and spending a ton of time on there! Jackie it is all your fault....lol! Well I would count myself as ungrateful if I didn't spend a little time talking about my holidays...I am not much of a story teller and no one thing in particular happened....it was just kind of the magic of the entire season.

First of all we knew that we would not have a normal Christmas because with Rob working out of town and on shift work we were not going to have our Christmas until Saturday Morning...December 27. So every Christmas my Mom, Brothers and Sister draw names and give each other a special gift, that way we don't have to buy presents for everyone...and everyone gets one...saves a lot on money, but it is fun to find that special present for the one person you have. We have found you really learn a lot about that person! Well my Aunt Shana has moved here from California and is living with my Mom til her house gets built....so we also added her to our gift exchange...this was a special treat because living in California she doesn't get to visit a lot. Next we were talking with my Uncle Josh and his wife when we were staying down in the valley with them and they were saying that they were going to be up for that Saturday...which was also a treat because we also don't get to see them that often.....so then we also added them and there daughter Melinda to our gift exchange. Then my Dad was also coming that Saturday...so we also added him to our gift exchange. This was an extra special treat for me. Over my lifetime I have not spent a great deal of time with my Dad, but over the last two years I have seen him a lot more. He came last Christmas and spent almost a week, which was a load of fun, then he came for one of Robby's football games, which was absolutely wonderful...but for him to come shortly after that for Christmas and spend a week with us.....well I can't tell you how excited I was. Well we also had one more suprise visit and that was from Rob's brother Drew, from Las Vegas! He got here Friday afternoon. It was amazing...my most favorite people in the world were all going to be here to spend Christmas with us!

Well...our Christmas Eve....Friday night...we spent at the Dog House and had a blast...we had a air hockey tournament and I was worried all night....Rob was on his way home and called and said he was stuck in Globe...they had closed the roads for the night. So poor Rob had to stay in the car all night waiting for it to open. So Dad got to my house at about midnight on Friday night...he got there early so he could see us open our presents...so Saturday morning we all headed to my Mom's house with all our presents in tow...and had to wait for Rob to arrive...to open presents. My poor kids...lol they were fine waiting a couple of days...it was the last few hours that killed them waiting for their Dad to make his way home! When Rob came in the door it was wonderful........Christmas with my entire family! Mom, Dad, Brothers, Sister, Kids, and some very special guests that is what Christmas is about Family! We started opening about 10 and Rob took his place as the passer outer of the presents and we ...for the first time...really took our time opening presents and enjoying being together opening presents from each other, laughing, and having a great time.

Then came the eating! Holy Cow...can my family cook and eat! Well most of the cooking came from my Dad! The first night my Dad cooked us all Orange Roughy Fish...and to anyone who knows me I HATE FISH! Well he made the best fish I had ever had! Don't ask me...he had it in Milk and other things, but it was really good! Next on the menu was Crawfish (otherwise known as crawdads) Louisianna style with red potatoes and corn on the cob...and gumbo. WOW! This was good! We had a blast sitting around the table peeling and eating them...it was fun. Next came his famous chili..well that was good too, but the topper for that night was the cactus dip he made. It literally had prickly pear cactus in it! It was wonderful! Next but not least was the making of Tamales...yes we spent all day Thursday making tamales. Amy and Dad took the lead on this. I had never made them before, this was quite an adventure! Boy were they good, and I think we ended up with about 20 or so dozen. So in between eating our delicious meals we played a ton of Rock Band, went out shooting, and one of the funnest adventures was geocaching out by woodruff. It was one week that I will truly never forget! Family....Food....and.... Fun!

Happy Halloween!

Well we had somewhat of a different Halloween this year! With Robby playing football and Halloween being on Friday that was pretty much our Halloween. Although we had a trunk or treat with our ward on Thursday night and after that Mom, Sara, and I went to the haunted corn maze. This was the scarriest, funniest thing we have ever done! We laughed, screamed, ran, froze, fell, and laughed some more! So then on Friday we met over at Mom's and took the kids to about 5 houses and then we had to hit the Udahls house for the annual Witches Brew (homemade rootbeer!), it just wouldn't have been Halloween without it. Then we hit the Football game agianst Payson....which ended badly, but hey that was our Halloween!

Jessica, My Senior Soccer Player's last game!

Well the top two pictures are right after Jessica's last ever soccer game in high school on Saturday agianst Desert Christian...which I have to say was very distressing to me...but not quite as bad as the bottom picture which was Senior night where they called the parents on to the field and honored the Seniors and gave the parents a candy bar...I couldn't keep the tears back that night. Coach Merrill has been her coach for the past 6 years. He was her basketball coach in Jr. High for two years and for the 4 years of Soccer in High School! I can't believe she is a senior and will be graduating this year.....I have been dreading this since she was born!